


Never Rat On Your Friends

by FujurPreux



Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Gen, Learning about Earth, Rats, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 07:03:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14467491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FujurPreux/pseuds/FujurPreux
Summary: Set at the start of the first season, Prowls finds himself fascinated by life on Earth. But then he learns things are not as he first thought, and he learns an important lesson.





	Never Rat On Your Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laurus_nobilis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurus_nobilis/gifts).



> 1) This is from Prowl's POV and at the beginning of the first season. Any comments regarding Sari come from his then limited knowledge.  
> 2) Sari is eight. She might not know well all her idioms.

Sari looked up at Prowl as she rested her elbows on the makeshift sofa fashioned from discarded pieces of machinery only a couple of days before. "You know," she said, grinning, "for someone who complains so much about Bee's TV watching habits, you kind of spend an awful lot of time here too." 

"Unlike certain other Autobots," replied Prowl, most definitely not pouting, “I don't waste my time playing video games. I am learning about your planet."

"Oh?" Sari looked at the TV and promptly made a face. "You're watching documentaries? For fun?"

"They are educational." And yes, fun. Or at least, interesting. Much more so than the ones Prime kept watching all the time anyway. "Besides, with us - " _stuck_ " - having to spend an indeterminate time on Earth, it's only practical."

"If you say so." 

"It's how it is."

"Oh, oh!" she added after a moment. "What has been your favorite part?"

"Hmm..." He rubbed his chin. "Let's see… Sometimes, I don't know what's more fascinating: that organic lifeforms are so many and so varied, or that they all have a place - a function that works in the benefit of all the others even if it doesn't look like it at first glance. Everything fits. It's like… like..." He trailed off, not sure of how to finish the sentence.

But Sari did.

"Like cogs in the machine!"

Now Prowl made a face. "You just had to say it like that, didn't you?"

"What's wrong with it? I'm pretty sure that's what it means."

"Well, maybe, but -" He sighed and shook his head. "Never mind."

Pushing the matter wouldn't do any good. As an organic herself, she wouldn't be able to grasp Prowl's actual meaning that easily. She and the rest of her kind lacked cogs and any other kind of machinery, which was one of the many things that made them so special. So fragile. Much more than anything Cybertronian. And yet, they were so resilient. They could thrive all around the planet, even in the most surprising of places. Like in their current headquarters, for examples. There, Prowl he had found plants – or at least, something green - growing on the walls in the back of the building, alongside other bigger and more complex creatures for which he had no name either. Life in this planet made him feel awed and humbled.

If it was up to him, he would leave the city to travel the Earth to experience first hand everything it had to offer. He would visit all those places featured in the documentaries he had seen. Why hadn't he? Because of the AllSpark. For whatever reason, whether fate or coincidence, he was part of the group that had found it after all this time. Not only he felt he should look after it, Yoketron would have insisted it was his duty. Thus, Prowl had resigned himself to be stuck with these people until they could contact Cybertron. Ah. At least he could come and go throughout the city as he pleased during his time off - and otherwise as well, as long as nobody noticed. 

All in all, it could be worse - but it also could be better.

An image on the television called his attention. Some dark brown creatures with large ears, whiskers, and long tails moved around close to the camera. 

"What are those?" he asked. "They're exactly like the creatures I found in the back."

Sari gasped. "You have rats here? Oh, boy. How many?" 

"About half a dozen. Maybe more."

She frowned. "Alright. Don't worry! I've got this!" With that, she dashed away.

Prowl was left alone and confused, wondering what had she meant by that. However, Bumblebee's waltzing into the room and flopping on the couch cut his train of thought.

The young bot grabbed the remote and changed the channel to something loud and with bright colors. "It's my turn here now, thank you," he said.

Prowl took the opportunity leave the couch and follow Sari. He wanted to ask her more about the rats and her intentions. He had some suspicions, but he had to be sure.

As far as he knew, humans had a soft spot for fur-covered beings. He had seen them walking down the streets with them and playing with them in the park. So maybe that's what Sari meant: she wanted to get collars and leashes for the rats so she could take them with her. If he happened to be right, he would try to talk her out of it. The rats looked so happy in their current home. It had been their home since before the Autobots moved in, after all. It wouldn't be fair to relocated them like that, out of a whim.

However, by the time he found her, she had run into Prime and was now talking to him. Hiding behind the corner, Prowl stared at the scene and weighed his options. Prime always had something to say about everything, and it was always a speech. An annoying and long speech. Besides, this was a private matter between Prowl and Sari. He saw no need to involve Prime in this, so he decided to talk with her later. Besides, if he wanted to learn more about the rats, it would be better to go to the source anyway. He turned around and went to pay them a visit.

While he walked, he ordered in his head the facts he had already figured out about them: they were small, fast, agile. Gregarious and social. Easily scared. The latest being the reason why he hadn't been able to make actual contact. But that was fine. Thanks to his Cyberninja skills, he sneaked his way to the top of a beam he could use as a perch and where he could crouch in silence to observe the creatures for as long as he wanted. Which was what he did this time as well. 

They looked so calm and content. Happy, even, as Prowl watched them come and go, bringing food from the street. Roughhousing. Living. 

It didn't took him long to make a decision: the rats should stay. It was only fair. This was their home. Sari could come and see then whenever she wanted, just like when she visited the Autobots.

However, as he reached this conclusion and nodded to himself, he heard footsteps. And then voices. 

The rats scampered to their hiding places.

"My shift was already over!" Bumblebee whined on his way in.

"This is important," Prime answered. "It has to be done today."

"Why isn't Prowl doing it?"

"Because I haven't seen him."

Prowl pressed himself further against the ceiling as they got in the room. They carried something on their hands. Small objects that looked like cages. Prowl was starting to seriously dislike this.

"Alright. Here we are," Prime said. 

"I've never been in this room before," Bee replied.

"Me neither. Which is, as far as I understand it, the root of the entire problem." He looked around. "I've only walked by that corridor, and I knew I heard something. Let's leave the traps here. We'll come back tomorrow to get rid of those creatures."

Prowl's frown intensified. Traps? Get 'rid' of those creatures? What had they even done to Prime? Dare to exist in his base? This sounded so far from the Autobot creed that Prime claimed to cherish so much that Prowl felt tempted to get out from the shadows to let him know. But, in the end, he decided against it. Prime would likely come up with some twisted argument about how he was doing the right thing for this reason or another. So Prowl remained where he was and waited for the others to leave.

It took them longer than expected because Prime looked all over for any hole he could find to seal it, to prevent any of the rats from coming in or out. But after that, they were gone.

Once Prowl was certain the coast was clear, he came down and sabotaged the traps. He didn't take them away nor destroy them. No. That would've been too obvious. He only made sure they wouldn't work as intended. A twist on a spring here, a loose screw there. A bent bar over there. That should do it.

He didn't re-open any of the holes either. This meant the rats would not be able to bring back any food, but there was some in the cages, originally intended to be bait. It should be enough to keep them fed for one night, Prowl thought. Once he made his case about respecting their neighbors, he just knew he would have the satisfaction of seeing Prime opening them back himself.

Satisfied with a job well done, Prowl left to his quarters. He would return the next day and would try not to laugh when Prime found the traps empty. He would leave him fume for a moment before making his proposal. No way this could go wrong, he told himself. Not when he had the entire night to make his argument airtight. Yes. He would be ready in the morning.

  


*

  


To Prowl's surprise, Sari returned early the next day. Bumblebee and Bulkhead had already left for their patrol, and Ratchet had gone to the junkyard to see if he could find anything more useful than the TV. Prowl, on the other hand, was waiting for Prime to check his daily list of activities to talk to him about the rats when the little human girl came in running. She continued to run on her place as she addressed them. She held a paper bag in her hand.

"Morning, Prowl. Hey, Optimus, did you do it?"

"Yes, I did do it. I was about to go check right now, actually."

"Alright. Let's go," she said, and took the lead at the same time she took out a half-eaten sandwich from her bag. "I was in a hurry to see what had happened and I didn't have a proper breakfast," she explained.

Prime acknowledged that with a noncommittal noise and went after her. Prowl followed. He hadn't been invited, but no one told him no to go either. This exchange, short as it had been, had him worried. Had Sari being the one to tell Optimus about the rats? Were the cages her idea? If so, why? So many questions, but only one way to find out.

Sari started her second sandwich as they arrived to the back room. As Prowl expected, the cages were all empty. Even the bait was gone. 

Sari examined them as she chewed. "Huh. This isn't good."

Prime knelt down to inspect them. "They weren't like this last night."

"The… uh, rats must be very smart creatures," Prowl offered, taking the opportunity to build argument up from there.

"Oh, they are smart," Sari said. "But dad made these traps impossible to escape from. And I made sure the bait was the best!" She walked around checking the cages. "I don't get it."

Prime stood up and rubbed his chin as he thought. 

Prowl counted to three before starting with, "Maybe it's a sign that we should leave them alone."

Sari's screams, however, made it impossible for him to go any further.

Both Autobots hurried toward her. They found her fighting two rats over her sandwich. The girl held her arm up to keep her food away from the animals while she tried to shoo them away with her foot. The rats looked hungry. Hungrier than Prowl had thought they would be.

"Go away, you!" she exclaimed.

But the rats would not relent. They were crouching, ready to pounce. Yet, it was a third one that came from a shelf on her left that made the jump. 

Despite being several times smaller than the human, Sari nevertheless fell down on her back with a yelp when she saw the rat coming. Fortunately, Prime got there in time to grab it by the tail to take it away before it could even scratch her. While he did that, Prowl scared the others away by stomping next to them. They hissed at him before running to their nest.

"Sari, are you okay?" Prime asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good," she said, sitting up. She checked her breakfast. The rat might have not done anything to her, but it had taken a bite out of her sandwich."...ew," she muttered when she realized.

Prime picked her up in his hand and placed her on his shoulder, away from any danger that lay on the ground. "I know you said they were a pest, but I had no idea they could be this aggressive," he said, voicing Prowl's concerns. "They really have to go. Asap." 

"We're going to need more cages," Sari said.

"No need. I'll take care of them," Prowl said. Yes, the creatures had to go. After what had happened, not even he could justify their staying in the base. However, he could make sure that they went on his own terms.

"Are you sure, Prowl?"

He folded his arms. "Have some faith in my abilities, Prime. They'll all be out of here before sunset."

"Alright. You are in charge here, Prowl." 

"We have to cover all the holes they use to come in!" Sari said. 

"Already did that," Prime replied. "But I'll ask Bulkhead and Bumblebee to double check just in case when they come back." 

Sari nodded and offered the sandwich to Prowl. "Good luck, Prowl. You can use this. I won't eat it anyway."

"Luck has nothing to do with this," he muttered, but he did take the food. 

As soon as Prime and Sari left, Prowl went to where he knew the rat nest was. "I'm sorry, little guys. You surely have a place in the world, but it's not here." Not where they could hurt his friends. But he would find it, and he would take them there that same day. He readied himself and got to work.

It seemed like he had learned a valuable lesson during the past few hours: next time something like this happened, he would take the matters on his own servos from the start. It would be better that way. Less collateral damage and less scared little humans. The least he could hope for.


End file.
